Enrico Bertini

Cohort 1

Cohort 2

Cohort 3

Sign up to watch the first lecture of the course. This lecture will give you a better understanding of the course. It introduces the VisThink Framework, the scaffold used throughout the course to organize our ideas and the course material.

Intro to Thinking Effectively with Data Visualization

Spot and avoid data fallacies. Gain confidence, build trust, and protect your credibility with truthful data visualizations.

Think Effectively with Data Visualization

Lecturer and Research Scientist

Postdoctoral researcher

Data Governance / Payroll Professional 

Data Visualization Editor

Senior User Interface Designer

Geospatial Data Specialist

Visualization professional

Data Visualization Designer

Data Scientist

As a data professional, you learn to use tools, crunch numbers, develop attractive charts, and create engaging presentations. But ... - What if your analysis does not hold water? 🌊- What if your conclusions are wrong? 😫- What if your audience gets the wrong message? ❗️ Mistakes in data reasoning can have disastrous consequences for yourself and your organization: loss of trust, reduced credibility, wrong decisions, and even harm. - Learning a new tool won't help- Learning to code won't help- Learning to create pretty charts won't help- Learning to tell more engaging "data stories" won't help What you need is a systematic framework to think effectively with and about data. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN1. How to spot issues in the data2. How to calculate the right numbers3. How to design the right representations4. How to design truthful framings THE COURSE INCLUDES- 6 live meetings (recorded and shared)- 5 pre-recorded video lectures and quizzes- 5 hands-on group activities- 1 final hands-on project (Note: The course does not require knowledge of any specific data processing or visualization tool.) WHO WILL BENEFIT MOST FROM THIS COURSEData professionals and enthusiasts who want to sharpen their data reasoning skills and produce more truthful charts. This includes a broad swath of professionals such as data analysts, data scientists, scientists and researchers, visualization designers, product managers, and data journalists. WHO THIS IS NOT FORThis course is not designed for:- Learning specific tools or libraries (Tableau, Power BI, Plotly, D3.js, etc.)- Learning how to make charts more aesthetically pleasing (even though that is important) The course is also unsuitable for individuals who prefer to work at their own pace and are not interested in interacting with others. The live meetings require everyone to be actively engaged in discussions, conversations, and collaborative work.

Gain confidence. Avoid costly mistakes.

Course syllabus

If your events are recurring and at the same time, it might be easiest to use a single line item to communicate your course schedule to students

Tuesdays & Thursdays

Feel free to type out dates as your title as a way to communicate information about specific live sessions or other events.

May 7, 2022

Schedule items can also be used to convey commitments outside of specific time slots (like weekly projects or daily office hours).

Weekly projects

Course schedule

Data analysts and data scientists who want to create more robust data insights and presentations.

Visualization designers who want to avoid misleading or confusing their readers.

Data enthusiasts who want to become better data thinkers and avoid being misled by data visualizations.

Who is this course for

What you’ll get out of this course

Learn a framework to systematicaly identify and avoid data reasoning and communication mistakes.

Framework for Effective Data Thinking

Design data visualizations that reduce the chances of confusing or misleading your audience.

Practical Data Visualization Skills

Enrich and test your knowledge with many practical examples, live hands-on activities, and a final project.

Hands-on Experience

Students interact and discuss a lot in this course. It's engaging, stimulating and fun!

Fun Interactions!

Don't Take Numbers at Face Value: Bad Data Ruins Good Charts

University professor, researcher, educator.

How to inspect and debug your data

How to think about the validity of your data

How bad data ruins your charts

How NOT to Lie with Charts

University Professor at Northeastern University, Researcher, and Educator.

How bad data thinking can have disastrous consequences

How to improve your data thinking skills

How to avoid data traps that can fool you and others

Don't Get Fooled! Avoid The Illusion of Causality in Charts

University professor, researcher, and educator with 15+ years of experience.

You'll learn how to identify charts that suggest (explicitly or implicitly) cause and effect where there may be none.

Spot charts with false cause-and-effect claims

You'll learn how different chart types and combinations of data types lead to different types of illusory causality.

Identify different types of causality in charts

You'll learn about scientific studies that show how people derive causality from charts.

Scientific background on causality in charts

Can You Trust It? 4 Ways Data Visualizations Mislead

Spot issues that stem from how the data has been generated.

Data Gaps

Learn how calculations and statistics can be misinterpreted.

Misleading Calculations

Learn how visual representations can distort the data.

Dubious Visuals

Learn how titles can bias reading through slanted framing.

Slanted Titles

Same Data, Different Charts: How Visuals Shape Data Messages

University professor, researcher, and educator with 15+ experience.

Follow a systematic process to generate multiple alternative visualizations for the same data.

A systematic process to explore the design space

Analyze visualization alternatives to assess the impact they have on the perceived message.

How to assess the impact of different visual representation

Detect potential problems with charts and avid common mistakes.

How to spot/avoid potentially misleading visualizations

RhetVis Course Preview and Q&A

University professor, researcher, and educator.

I will give you a preview of the course content, including lectures, quizzes, and hands-on activities.

Course Content

I will describe the course's organization and how the work is divided between homework and live sessions.

Course Organization

I'll provide answers to all of your questions.

Learn directly from Enrico Bertini